Syrian opposition leader calls for foreign help without conditions

George Sabra says western powers need to be true to their word and give rebels aid and support against Assad regime

guardian.co.uk, Associated Press in Beirut and Doha, Saturday 10 November 2012

George Sabra has called for aid and more support from the international
community. Photograph: Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

The newly elected leader of Syria's main opposition bloc has said that the international community should support those trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad's regime without any conditions and not link aid to an overhaul of the opposition leadership.

George Sabra, head of the Syrian National Council, said he and other opposition figures are disappointed with foreign backers. "Unfortunately, we get nothing from them, except some statements, some encouragement" while Assad's allies "give the regime everything," Sabra told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a weeklong SNC conference in the Qatari capital of Doha.

He said the Syrian opposition needs hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and weapons to defeat regime forces.

Sabra, 65, was heading an SNC delegation on Saturday in talks with rival opposition groups on forging a new, broader opposition leadership group –an idea promoted by western and Arab backers of those trying to oust Assad.

The SNC has been reluctant to join such a group, fearing it would lose influence within a larger platform. Senior SNC figures suggested Saturday's meeting would be the start of several days of negotiations over the size and mission of such a group. They said they are willing to join a larger group, but that the details need to be worked out carefully.

The author of the plan, veteran dissident Riad Seif, has said the international community would quickly recognise a unified group and use it as a conduit for billions of dollars in aid to the uprising against Assad.

The outcome of the talks will be crucial not just for the SNC, an Istanbul-based group widely seen as out of touch with activists on the ground and fighters dying on the battlefields in Syria, but also for the future of the entire opposition.

Sabra acknowledged that some of the criticism of the SNC was justified, but said that this should not serve as an excuse to hold up international aid. "Don't hang (your) delay to provide Syrians what they need, what they want, on the neck of the opposition," he said.

"Let's say, we have our responsibility, no doubt about that, and we will carry this responsibility, but we need from the international community to carry their responsibility also," he said.

Sabra, a Christian and leftwing veteran dissident, spent eight years in Syrian jails in the 1980s and 1990s. He was jailed twice after the outbreak of the uprising against Assad in March 2011, and fled to Jordan on foot in the fall of 2011 to avoid further detention.

Meanwhile, Two explosions set off by a pair of suicide bombers shook a the city of Deraa on Saturday, killing and wounding dozens of government troops, an activist group said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said the early morning blasts in Deraa targeted an encampment for government troops in the city. The Observatory said the explosions were followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels fighting to topple Assad.

The state-run news agency Sana said the blasts caused multiple casualties and heavy material damage, but did not provide further details.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, the Observatory's head, said at least 20 soldiers were killed in Saturday's twin blasts, but the claim could not be independently verified. The targeted area is considered a security zone that houses a branch of the country's military intelligence as well as an officer's club where dozens of regime forces are based.

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